Ariyalai skeleton find may lead to more human graves - Judge

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2003, 11:45 GMT]Jaffna High Court Judge, R.T.Wignarajah, Friday visited the site in Ariyalai
Nedunkulam junction, west of Jaffna-Kandy road, where human remains were
found recently, and said that there is visible evidence of the existence
of three more human graves in the same area, local reports from Jaffna said.

Members of Halo Trust who are clearing mines in Ariyalai area recently
discovered human skeletons near Nedunkulam junction. Jaffna Police on
notification of these findings informed the Jaffna High Courts of the
matter. Jaffna High Court, led by Judge Wignarajah, is setting up the procedures to
conduct the investigations.

Director of Halo Trust who accompanied the Judge on the site visit informed
the Judge that they will need approximately two weeks to clear the area of
mines for the investigations on the additional graves to proceed.

The Judge then directed the Jaffn Police to inform the Forensic expert from Galle
General Hospital, Dr. Ruwanpura, the details of the schedule and to inform
the Courts the date excavations can begin, local press reported.

Amnesty International said in 1997 that as many as 600 people who "disappeared"
in the Jaffna peninsula after the Sri Lankan Army moved into the area in 1996,
"died under torture or been deliberately killed." A soldier involved in the
crimes alleged that Chemmani was where bodies of those disappeared were
clandestinely buried. However, the Chemmani mass grave investigation has
become a victim of the judicial limbo common in Sri Lanka when powerful
interests are implicated. Ethnic politics and the fallout of an active war
have also contributed to the lack of forward movement in the case.